The Crime of Count Morano
by calcgirl
Summary: Prequel to The Essence of Terror. Count Dioscuro Morano feels a need to extract revenge on anyone who has ever wronged him. James Potter's father investigates Morano's worst crime. Rated for violence and disturbing images. Now finished.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize.

A/N: This is the prequel to The Essence of Terror and The Endurance of Trials. I hope you will check them out. Let me know if you like/don't like my story and why.

* * *

"Many declared that He was Doctor Faustus, whom the Devil had sent back to Germany." – Matthew Lewis, The Monk

* * *

Auror Isaac Potter shuffled his feet as he dragged himself to the door of his manor. He was getting too old for all of this. Next week he was scheduled to retire from the Ministry. Count Dioscuri Morano had been in hiding for the last five years, only to make another attack right before Auror Potter's retirement. Potter had been assigned to the Morano case ten years ago when he committed his first major crime: Morano had strangled one of his own friends because he had insulted him. Morano had only been eighteen.

At first, Morano had committed crimes out of vengeance, but this last one seemed to be only a taunt. He was trying to prove to the Ministry, especially Auror Potter, that he was uncatchable. Potter was the Auror in charge of trying to capture and punish Morano, but as of yet had been unsuccessful. With every new death Morano caused, Auror Potter began to feel even guiltier.

Why Count Morano never joined Voldemort was obvious. Morano had no qualms against people because of blood or status: all of his crimes were personal. Besides, Morano's style was pretty much the opposite of Voldemort's. Voldemort was obsessed with death. Morano believed in psychological torture before death.

His latest crime was probably his worst, and Potter was certain that it would haunt him for the rest of his life, however long that may be. He was, of course, getting rather old. The parents of the dead children, however, and that poor new worker, had plenty of years of nightmares ahead of them.

The investigation had begun the night before, when the new intern at Gringott's, Katherine St. Aubert, had gone by to pick up some papers and heard the commotion.

From the interviews with St. Aubert and the parents, looking at the evidence, and his knowledge of Morano, Potter had put together what had probably happened in the last week.

The first dead woman, a week prior, had been found at the bottom of a large staircase, surrounded by blood. St. Aubert had found her, along with the older woman who was showing her the ropes of the bank. Seeing the pool of blood, they had alerted St. Mungo's, who flooed over to Gringott's and pronounced her dead at the scene. Her eyes had been gouged out, and her heart fatally punctured.

The Aurors were busy trying to detain Voldemort and could not look further into her death at the time. In their haste, the Aurors wrote this woman's death off as suicide, but now Potter was not certain. Either it was a real suicide that Morano copied for his purposes, or it was a forced suicide. Morano did not do the actual killing of people if he could help it.

The second woman's body was found last night, another apparent suicide. Upon further investigation, nobody could have blamed this woman if it really were suicide.

* * *

Emily Woodworth had stayed late at Gringott's to finish off some paperwork. As she was leaving, a man who looked vaguely familiar confronted her. Five years of hiding changes a person, so Morano did not look quite like the picture she remembered seeing, and she certainly did not associate him with the nice young man with whom she went to Hogwart's.

"Hello? May I help you? Are you lost?"

"No. I have found that which I have been seeking," and he pointed his wand at Woodworth.

"What are you doing?"

"You are my next lucky accomplice."

"Wh-What are you talking about? I-I refuse to do anything for you."

"Awww, Emily, I am hurt. After all I did for you at school, you refuse to help me with one little thing?"

"What do you mean? I-I have n-never seen you before in my life."

"You give me pains. Really, Emily, how could you forget me? I saved you from the Giant Squid. I got you out of trouble when you snuck out to meet your boyfriend in Hogsmeade. You never repaid me for any of that. No, you threw it back in my face when you turned me in to Dumbledore for fighting your friend, Elizabeth, causing me to be expelled."

"Dustin?"

"I no longer go by that name. Now, Elizabeth I took care of last week. Now it is your turn. Her death was almost painless compared to what yours will be."

Emily had been scared from the moment Morano pointed his wand at her, but now she was absolutely terrified. Her heart was pounding, and she was starting to sweat all over. She had not told the Aurors at the time, but Elizabeth had been her best friend growing up. They had drifted apart over the past ten years, but finding her body on the first day of her new job had certainly given her a jolt.

"P-Please don't do anything to me. I'm sorry for what I did. I didn't know Dumbledore would expel you."

"Yes you did. That's why you told him. You hated me. I was nothing but nice to you, and you threw away what could have been a great friendship." He leered at her as he said this, showing it was not friendship he had been wanting.

"Come on, Dustin. Forgive and forget."

"Ha ha ha. You kill me. Really, you do. I do not know this forgiveness of which you speak. I never received any, and I will not hand out any. And do not call me Dustin."

Emily's fright was increasing by the second, so all she could do at this point was nod her head.

"Now, follow me, and you will see what I have in store for you."

She had no choice but to follow the deranged man.

He led her to a broom cupboard and told her to open it. He had a surprise in there.

Hands trembling and palms sweaty, Emily turned the doorknob.

Immediately she heard the cries of, "Miss Woodworth! Help us, please! This man came into my house and took me from Mummy and Daddy." She recognized all three children in the cupboard. They were all children of old school friends whom she saw on a regular basis.

"Don't worry, kids. If Miss Woodworth does what I tell her to, you will be all right. You will even get to see your parents before the end of the night."

Not quite sure if she could trust the words of this deranged man, Emily nodded in order to reassure the children. "I won't let anything happen to you guys."

"Now, kids, I need you to cooperate, too. If you do what I tell you, Miss Woodworth and your parents will no be harmed" he paused, "physically, at least."

Morano produced three pieces of meter-long string from his pocket. "Okay, _Miss _Woodworth, the first thing I want you to do is to transfigure these into strips of cloth."

Not wanting Morano to think he had complete control over her, Emily could not resist chiding him, "You never were any good at Transfiguration."

Too late, Emily realized she should not have angered Morano. He slapped her forcefully across the cheek, scaring the children.

Though tears stung her eyes, Emily quickly tried to reassure the children she was fine, and then she transfigured the strings before Morano could get upset again.

"Great. _Expelliarmus. _I cannot have you possessing a wand during the rest of our game," he said as her wand flew into his hand. "Now, tie one of these to each of the children's ankles."

She hurried to do as he asked, not seeing any immediate harm in the task.

"Okay now children, this is where you get to help out Miss Woodworth. I need you to walk with us over to the balcony. Can you do that for us?"

The children nodded silently, quiet tears rolling down the youngest girl's cheeks.

About fifty feet (15.24 metres) separated the balcony of Gringott's from the streets of Diagon Alley below. The few people who got the chance to view Diagon Alley from the balcony were lucky indeed; one felt on top of the world from that standpoint, seeing all the people rushing to the shops below.

The children, of course, could not see over the railing in order to view such sights, even if there were people out there. It was after ten o'clock, though, and nobody was in the streets. The never-ending fear of Voldemort ensured the streets cleared themselves by eight thirty, when the sun went down.

"Now," Morano addressed the children condescendingly, "are any of you afraid of heights?" The children shook their heads no. "Great. No worries, then. I need all of you to climb up on the railing. Miss Woodworth will assist you."

At this point, Emily knew she must take the risk of intervening. "You cannot do this. It's unsafe. Do you want these children to die?" She whispered the last part, not wanting to alarm the children than they already were.

"If your transfiguration skills are as superb as you think they are, you should have nothing to worry about. If you do not do what I say, these children will die for certain. Would you prefer possible death or certain death for these poor, innocent children?" He correctly interpreted her silence. "Good. Now help them climb up."


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: I own nothing you recognize and very little of what you do.

A/N: Thanks for reviewing, Spuffy Freak. No, he is not a rapist, just an evil man who gets revenge in ways that unconventional. I hope everyone reading this will drop me a line letting me know why you do or do not like it. Gold stars to anyone who can guess the allusion to a television show at the end. Here's the last chapter!

* * *

"Terror is the fear that harm will come to oneself. Horror is the emotion one feels in anticipating and witnessing harm coming to others for whom one cares." – Terry Heller, The Delights of Terror, page 19

* * *

Meanwhile, three sets of parents were frantically searching for their children. They contacted the child safety segment of the Auror department, and they were doing all they could to find the children who had been missing for at least three hours now. With the possibility that Voldemort had something to do with their disappearances, the former schoolmates were especially anxious, but there was nothing they could do now.

* * *

At this moment, Katherine St. Aubert walked past the balcony and heard the voices of young children saying, "Help me, Miss Woodworth. I can't climb up by myself."

Intuition told Katherine to avoid being noticed, so she tiptoed closer and looked in on the scene from around a corner. It did not take a genius to figure out that something was wrong with the picture presented to her. Children should not be climbing onto the railing of the balcony with the help of one of her coworkers under the supervision of a man concealed in shadow.

Swiftly and silently, Katherine ran to the nearest fireplace and communicated with the Auror department at the Ministry. The parents who were in the office with the Aurors heard her succinct declaration that there were "three children with Emily Woodworth and a strange man here at Gringott's. I don't know what is happening, but it cannot be anything good."

Without a second thought, all six parents and four Aurors Apparated to Gringott's.

* * *

Morano was no idiot. He knew Katherine had been there. He was the one who had stolen into her flat and taken the papers she needed. He had counted on the slightly scatter-brained woman to assume she had merely left them at work. When he heard her gasp and light footsteps behind him, he knew his plan was nearly complete.

Morano turned to the kids whining that they wanted to go home and complaining that they wanted down, and he smiled. "You will be getting down soon. For now, I need Miss Woodworth to tie the other end of your sheet strips to the balcony railing. Your parents are coming, and we are going to surprise them."

Again, Emily knew she had to interfere. She could not decipher his exact purpose, but she knew it could not be good. "You cannot do this, Dustin. I don't know what you are trying to do or prove, but this needs to stop. These kids did nothing to you, and you know it."

"They may not have done anything, but their parents sure did. You think hurting those b------s I knew at school would make my point? Of course not. I need to scare them properly. Now, all we are going to do is hang these children from the balcony and make their parents come up and get them. That is all."

"Y-You're going to hang them from the balcony? No real harm? What kind of criminal are you?"

"The kind who will slash the throats of these children if you do not do what I say right this second."

"Okay, okay, I'll do it. Just don't hurt the kids," and she tied the sheet strips to the balcony railing and slowly lowered the children, the strips holding fast, not allowing them to dangle far from the edge, hanging upside down like bats.

"Perfect timing. Our guests are just now arriving."

Sure enough, the children's parents and the Aurors Apparated in at that moment.

"I am glad everyone could make it," Morano grinned evilly. "I told Woodworth here that I would return your children to you. However, it is your duty to catch them."

And without a moment's hesitation, Morano whipped out a dagger, swiftly cut all three strips, and Disapparated.

Even if they had been expecting this, none of the adults would have been able to react quickly enough to help the children. All they could do was watch in horror from below as their children fell to the ground. Their heads impacted at about 17.3 m/s. In the light shining out from the interior of the bank illuminated the catastrophe. They could all see the way the children's skulls smashed against the hard pavement. One of the mother's began screaming mechanically; she had gone into shock. Another father rushed towards his son, thinking he could somehow do something. The children were dead, though.

From above, Emily could not believe what had just occurred. Extreme guilt consumed her automatically. She could not believe Morano had tricked her into letting this happen. Her eyes burned from the sight before her. Small, pulverized skulls. Blood. Small bodies. More blood. More than should be able to come out of children that small.

Emily now knew how Oedipus must have felt. Maybe this is how Elizabeth felt last week, assuming her injuries last week had been self-inflicted.

She saw the dagger Morano had left lying on the railing. She could no longer stand the sight before her. She could no longer live with the guilt. She grabbed the dagger and began to stab her own eyes.

To the parents below, ages had passed, but in reality, only a minute had transpired. From around the corner, Katherine came running, hoping she could still help the children. She figured she was too late when she saw Emily begin to bring the dagger to her eyes.

Katherine ran to her and tried to wrestle the dagger away from her coworker, but to no avail. Katherine endured several scratches before Emily succeeded in knocking her away. Emily then plunged the dagger into her heart.

* * *

"Hey, Dad. How was work today?" Isaac Potter looked at his son, James.

"A nightmare," he replied honestly. "Morano struck again. Three children were killed, and Emily Woodworth stabbed herself."

James cringed. He knew Emily. She was only ten years older than he was, and as a child, he had had a small crush on the pretty woman.

Auror Potter continued, "Five years he was in hiding. Why did he have to come back now?" He cursed. James knew his father felt helpless; the only time his father cursed was when he felt there was nothing he could do to solve the problems of the world.

He sighed, "Well, he has now punished all of his former classmates in some way. Maybe now that he has had his revenge, he will stop. I will do whatever I can to bring justice, though. I want that man in Azkaban for all of these murders, if it's the last thing I do."

James nodded in understanding. He knew his father felt guilty, that he should have had this man in Azkaban five or ten years ago.

"Do me a favor, son. Never treat another human being in such a way that he would want to get revenge. If you want to see what a man is like, look at how he treats his inferiors, not his equals."

James took his father's advice to heart. He knew he would probably fail, but he resolved to try his hardest to treat everyone, even the Slytherins, better.

"If people had been nicer to him at school, there would probably be one less mad lunatic running around." He paused. "I just hope he has stopped now. I can't imagine how I would feel if I were ever subjected to one of his revenge plots. I don't know if I would have the strength to outsmart him."

FIN


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